


The Path Between

by theirresitibleones



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Badass SHIELD Agents, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, F/M, Fights, Friendship, Hydra (Marvel), Love, POV Bucky Barnes, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, SHIELD, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-11
Updated: 2015-01-27
Packaged: 2018-02-16 22:47:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2287256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theirresitibleones/pseuds/theirresitibleones
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Years ago highly trained operative Y/N has been a S.H.I.E.L.D agent since she was sixteen. As punishment for a op not by the book she is sent to babysit a prince. A simple job goes wrong when Russian soldier is sent to take her out. As the man with the metal arm pursues her things shift he now needs her help.After a month on the run and his memories back Bucky and Y/N are tracked down. Y/N escaped due to Bucky's help but Bucky was captured wiped and refrozen.  Seven years later Y/N is joining Maria Hill by working for Stark after the collaspe of S.H.I.E.L.D. Late one night a man is following her from a distance she turns to confront the man only to be confronted by a ghost from her past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Path Between: An Unexpected Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Russian Translations  
> 1“Ubedites', chto prints ne meshayet. U menya yest' devushka.” (Make sure the prince does not interfere. I have the girl.  
> 2“Zatknis'!” (Shut up!)  
> 3 "Kto ona?” (Who is she?)  
> 4 "Ostav' yeye . My berem yego nazad, chtoby byt' unichtozheny ." (Leave her. We take it back to be wiped.)  
> 5 "YA ne prichinyu tebe vreda . YA prosto khochu , chtoby poluchit' otvety." (I will not hurt you. I just want to get answers.)

**Y'N's POV**

_2007 London_   
_I was on babysitting duty due to not listening to the council’s opinion on how I should work my op. I groaned babysitting a prince, who was twenty eight years old, was not how I wanted to spend my week. He was a player who insisted on hitting on me._

_“Come on I thought you American babes loved foreign guys.” He said wiggling his eyebrows at me._

_I kept a stone mask on my face. “Well I thought you foreign guys had brains. I guess we were both wrong.” I say in a dead pan voice._

_He pouted._

_Seriously when I was done I was going to have words with Fury over this. Watching this guy was like watching a five year old who’s parents never told him no._

_He stood up and headed for the door. “I’m getting food.”_

_I inwardly groaned. “I guess I’m coming with.” Truth be told it would be nice and we couldn’t get in trouble because there was no threat to the spoiled brat, sorry his highness. I sneered to myself._

_As we headed down the street I felt goose bumps climb up and down my arm. Shit. We had company. I casually looked around spotting a few Russian's. Definitely big trouble. I casually linked our hands together making the prince smirk at me._

_“Awe babe I knew you would fall for me.” He said smirking not knowing the danger we were potentially in._

_I plastered a smile on my face and spoke in a flirty tone. “Listen carefully we are be followed.” I stopped pulling him to a halt put my hand on his cheek to stop him from looking around and hoped to would come off as PDA. “We are going to go to turn around and you are going to say ‘shit I forgot my phone.’”I say still acting like the precious prince's lover._

_He nodded and started to pat his jeans._

_I quirked an eyebrow at him and hoped to god he was going to play along._

_“Awe babe I left my phone.”_

_I smirked inwardly he may be a pain in the ass but at least he was a pain in the ass who could act mature given the situation. I pretended to pout. “But wh-“_

_He pretended to drag me back the direction we came from. “Come on we can get pizza after I get my phone.”_

_The whole block back I pretended to sulk as I took inventory definitely a clean-up crew. No one approached us though. I felt the hairs on my neck go up._

_“Remember what I told you?” I said._

_He nodded._

_“Good go to the point use the phone in the glove box. Dial eight nine four six. A team will be there in five minutes.” I said reaching behind me for my gun and let my hand graze the one of the knives I kept hidden._

_“Wait what?” He said almost stopping._

_“Don’t stop.” I said through clenched teeth as we approached the hotel. “I have to deal with them.”_

_He gulped and nodded. “I’m sorry for being a dick.”_

_I nodded one minute before hell was going to break loose. “It’s okay I enjoyed it.” I said smirking._

_He smiled weakly at me. “Good to know.”_

_“Count to ten in your head then run the route.”_

_He nodded._

_As soon as he nodded I noticed..Holy shit. He’s real. I thought. Before removing my gun._

_The prince broke off in a run and I followed making sure he got to the place we discussed. Thankfully whoever sent him wouldn’t know where we were going since I came up with the plan alone… Someone definitely told them we were here._

_I heard a voice shout in Russian. “Ubedites', chto prints ne meshayet. U menya yest'  devushka.”1_

_Thankfully Natasha was one of my best friends so I knew Russian pretty well. I felt relief knowing the prince was definitely going to make it. Me on the other hand well that was a different story._

_I stopped and waited for the man with the voice of sin. I traded my gun for both my knives. Hand to hand combat was something I was much better with especially when it was a surprise attack_

_As he rounded the corner I stabbed the knife into his right arm. I couldn’t see his face but I could tell by his body language he was shocked. Apparently no one told him I could speak Russian. Good to know._

_I smiled grimly and moved to attack his face he however was faster and a hell of a lot stronger. He grabbed my arm and twisted it behind me and forced me against the wall. I felt cold metal against my arm and back. This dude had a metal arm. I stomped on his foot to give me some space he moved a fraction of an inch giving me my opening to turn slightly and kneed him in the balls. He loosened his hold on me enough for me to go. I ran down the hall and reached for my gun only to realize the man with the metal arm and sinful voice had it._

_“Son of a bitch.” I grumbled running down the hall to the parking garage._

_I glanced over my shoulder to see the man get up. Definitely pissed off. I quickly ran down the three flights of stairs  to the underground parking garage and saw the valet getting on a motorcycle I ran up to him and yanked him away. “Sorry dude emergency.” I yelled taking off on the bike._

_I felt my phone buzzing. I pulled it out as I weaved through the London streets. Fury the caller ID Splashed on the screen. “A little busy.”_

_“What in the hell is going on? All you had to do was watch him.” Fury screamed._

_I growled. “They aren’t after him. They want me.”_

_Fury stopped his mutterings about how I was getting out of control. “What? Repeat that one more time Agent."_

_"The guy said ‘make sure the prince doesn’t intefere’, and judging by this phone call he is being escorted to safety. However,-“ I said stopping to glance behind me to see a land rover heading my way. “Shit. He also said’ he’s got the girl’”._

_“Look Agen-“_

_“Look he’s Russian. Fury, that's all I have. I have to go.” I said chucking my phone behind me encase it was being monitored._

_I turned the corner only to be met by traffic. Shit. I hopped off the bike and began to run again. This day could not get any worse. As I headed into an alley I was grabbed and thrown to the ground. Son of a bitch was this guy fast._

_I smirked up at him. “Roughs not really my style sweetheart.” I said kicking him in the face and sending his face mask flying off. Shit. Even his face was gorgeous._

_“Zatknis'!”2 The man shouted.  
_

_“Now, now didn’t your mother tell you it was impolite to yell at a woman.”_

_The man came towards you even faster ripping off his eye mask. He picked me up by the throat._

_Holy shit. He looked familiar. I grabbed my knife attached to my leg. “Do I know you?” I questioned. Giving myself some extra time. Where the hell did I know his face from?_

_He stopped squeezing my neck. “What?” He asked in a raspy American voice._

_Shit. This guy was American. “Do I know you?” I repeated the question as I felt his hand loosen around my throat._

_The guy looked lost, angry, and confused. “I don’t know.”_

_A guy rounded the corner as the bionic guy set me down on the ground. I was about to run when the guy began shooting, at the man who was trying to kill me. Who was shouting at him._

_“Kto ona?”3 He kept repeating over and over._

_“Ostavit' yeye . My berem yego nazad, chtoby byt' unichtozheny.”4 The man said to two other men coming towards us in the alley._

_“Shit.” I mumbled grabbing the soldiers arm. “I don’t know what the hell wiping is but I’m pretty sure it’s painful.” I say dragging the bionic man with me._

_I can’t believe I am now helping the guy who tried to kill me, but I needed to figure out how I knew him._

_He looked lost as we ran through the back streets before happening upon a hotel. “Don’t say anything.” I grumbled before approaching the hot hotel boy. “One room.” I said whipping out five hundred euro’s and placing them on the desk. I smiled seductively at him he nodded and quickly handed me a room key. “Thanks handsome.” I said winking at him._

_I headed towards whoever the hell this guy was and nodded towards the elevators. When we got to the room._

_"Why?” His voice said as I checked the windows to make sure we lost them._

_“Why what?” I asked checking the room for all exit and access points._

_“Help me.”_

_I bit back a laugh. “Do you only speak in two words?” I asked sighing seeing his human arm was bleeding pretty terribly. “Let me see your arm.”_

_He glared at me before stepping further away. “Who are you?”_

_I groaned stepping to him. “I’m Y/N. I work for S.H.I.E.L.D. Now let me see your arm.” I said through clenched teeth and stepping closer to him._

_He continued to glare at me but made no move to move away again. “Why help me?”_

_I shrugged. “I want answers. What’s your name?”_

_“I don’t know. They call me the Winter Soldier.”_

_I gulped. Holy shit. He was just a ghost story told, well not anymore. I stepped back this whole thing must’ve been a ploy._

_He seemed to sense my change in attitude. “Do I know you? Have we meet before?”_

_Oh shit. He’s not supposed to be real. I stepped back into the bathroom. In thirty seconds I could be out the window and never see him again._

_He was on me in seconds. Wrapping his arm around my waist and hauling me back into the room. “Don’t look at me like that.”_

_I glared at him before squeezing my hand on the knife wound I gave him._

_He howled in pain and tightened his grip on my body. “Ya ne prichinyu tebe vreda. Ya prosto khochu, chtoby poluchit' otvety.”5_

_I swallowed and told him what I knew. “You’re a ghost story in the spy and assassin world. Well at least you were supposed to be.”_

_He slightly loosened his grip on me. “Have we meet before.”_

_“I don’t know. You seem familiar that’s all I can tell you.” I say glancing up into his blue eyes._

_He nods and steps away. I noticed his arm wasn’t as bad as I first thought. He must heal extremely fast. “Why help me?”_

_I stared at him thinking of an answer. “Because what I saw in that alley was the look of someone who lost themselves.”_

_He nods and releases me._

_"You need to bind that." I say before heading to the opposite side of the room._

_He grunts in response but is already working on it._

_We lapse into silence as we await whatever fate we are set for._


	2. The Path Between: Running Away

 

**Y/N's POV**

_After a week of laying low we head out of the city to a S.H.I.E.L.D. safe house so we can be extracted without whoever the Russian’s were after us._

_“Alright Russian we need to head North to get away from all of the cameras.”_

_“I –I’m American.” He says darkly._

_“No shit.” I say sarcastically leaning back in my seat. Before turning to glare at him, “How the hell do you remember when you can’t remember your name?”_

_He turns to look at me. “I-I-my name is James but people called me Bucky.” He says staring intently in front of him._

_Holy shit. It clicked for me why I recognized him. It was Bucky fricken’ Barnes, a long haired caveman Bucky Barnes but him nonetheless. “Captain America’s best friend?” I asked already knowing the answer._

_He looked at me weird. “Steve’s best friend.” He said darkly._

_As we approached the outside of the city I let my curiosity over how much he remembered get the best of me. “Were you going to tell me that you started to remembered? “ I growled._

_He shrugged. “ I wasn’t.” He said honestly._

_“At least your honest.” I grumbled out._

_“I only remember bits and pieces. I have a lot of time gaps and not much makes sense.”_

_After a week of being around him I noticed that he had two personalities, well not really two I was pretty sure they were one and the same. Which correlated with him getting  his memories  back and he was dealing with his actions over the years._

_He sighed. “Where to?”_

_I rattled off the directions as I typed it into the GPS. “We’ll have to ditch the car and hike.” I say before turning back to stare out the window._

_“That’s fine.”_

_Two hours of silence later we ditch the car and begin our next two hours of hiking._

_“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.” He says as I lead the way to the safe house._

_I shrugged. “None of my business. As soon as we are extracted you won’t ever see me again any way.”_

_He grabbed my arm stopping me from heading to our destination. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”_

_I yank my arm free of his. “It means that they let you become a S.H.I.E.L.D agent they’ll want your info on whatever organization you worked for and you won’t ever see me again.” I rolled my eyes. “Your way too valuable to arrest if that’s what you’re wondering.” I say starting back towards the safe house._

_We finished the rest of our trip in silence. I walked around the safe house checking to make sure it was not compromised._

_“We’re good.” I say entering the security code in. “This will alert my boss we’re here. It may also alert whoever the hell you were working for.” I warned._

_He nods._

_As we entered I sighed because I knew there was a fully stocked fridge and clothes. Sometimes working for S.H.I.E.L.D had its benefits. “I’m starved .” I say heading straight to the kitchen. As I pulled out ingredients to make a sandwich I noticed Bucky didn’t move away from the entrance._

_“Something wrong?” I asked glancing up at him._

_He had a sad look in his eyes. “It feels like…cozy.”_

_“Like…cozy?” I questioned. “You sure you speak English?”_

_He smiled at me sadly. “It just reminds me of home.” Then the sad look deepens on his face. “But everyone I know is dead so I guess I’ll never have one of those again.”_

_I swallowed the involuntary lump in my throat. My heart broke for the man who was out of his element sure he knew all about technology but he had nothing, no one. “Sometimes a fresh start is needed.” I say taking a bite out of my finished sandwich before I start making a second one, for Bucky._

_He nods. “Y/N…”_

_“Hmmm…?” I say as I put more cheese on his sandwich._

_“Thank you.”_

_“Don’t.” I say harshly as I glare at him._

_“Why the hell not?” Bucky scowled at me._

_I gave him a pointed look. “Because I didn’t do it for just you, you weren’t the only person’s whose life was on the line.” I said nonchalantly as I finished his sandwich._

_In a matter of seconds he was behind me spinning me around and pinning my body between his and the counter. “Don’t lie to me.”_

_I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t try to intimidate me it won’t work.” I said glaring up at him._

_“If I wanted to intimidate you Y/N you would not be using the word try.”_

_I felt my blood run cold. I kept forgetting that this man was every bit as lethal as I was if not more so._

_“Back off Barnes,” I say pushing at the wall of his chest and mentally building barriers against the man who stood before me. “I’m going to shower. That sandwich is yours.” I say  pointing to the counter  as I grab mine._

_Bucky stepped away from me. “Y/N-“_

_I took a few steps to make sure I was out of his range. “What?” I asked cautiously._

_“Never mind.” He said gruffly._

_I nodded before heading upstairs praying that someone would come to take him or me whatever came first._

_As I climbed out of the shower and headed into the bed room I saw Bucky laying on the bed._

_“Get out Barnes.”_

_He eyed me. “Not a chance Y/N.” He said smirking at me._

_I headed over to the dresser and grabbed the lingerie and clothes I would need. I turned to head back into the bathroom but Bucky was now blocking the way. He quirked his eyebrow at me as if throwing down a challenge._

_I glared at him and let my towel drop. If he wanted to play the game fine I’d play too. I pulled on the black bra and matching lacy panties and threw the t-shirt on along with the sweats._

_When I looked up Bucky had moved closer to me. “Y/N….”_

_I folded my arms over my chest. “You’re the one who didn’t want to leave Barnes.” I say .”Not my fault you were being stupid.”_

_As soon as the word left my mouth something in Bucky changed. He was no longer him. His eyes had gone blank and had a glazed over look._

_I waved my hand in front of his face. Shit. This was not good._

* * *

 

  
**Bucky’s POV**

_Stupid. Stupid. The word kept repeating itself over and over in my mind. I was thrown back into memories I didn’t even realize I was missing and just like that everything came back. I knew who I was. I knew everything I did._

_‘Don’t do anything stupid until I get back.’ I said to my scrawny best friend._

_‘How can I? You’re taking all the stupid with you.’ He says giving me a sad smile._

_“BUCKY! BUCKY!” A female voice is shouting at me._

_I blinked and all of a sudden I was back to the present._

_“Jesus. I thought you we-Never mind.” Y/N said turning to walk out of the bedroom._

_I reached out my metal arm to grab her. “I remember everything.” I said which caused her to look up at me._

_“Oh shit.” She looked terrified._

_I laughed dryly. “Yeah…I-Is Steve daead?” I asked_

_She swallowed. “Honestly I have no idea. They never found his body.”_

_I nodded. Way to go Buck you had one job and you failed. “How di-“_

_She stopped struggling and gave me a look of sympathy. “He put a plane in the water and took the Red Skull with him. He sacrificed himself the same way you would’ve. At least that’s what they say.”_

_I nodded before letting her go to sit on the bed. She seemed to contemplate something._

_“He died a hero and a good man.” She said walking over to sit next to me._

_“I –“_

_“No one knew you were alive a fall like that should have killed you.” She said softly before taking my hand in hers. “It’s not your fault Bucky and by blaming yourself you are taking away the good things he did. You are saying that the lives he saved weren’t worth it and you know he would have believed they were.”_

_I looked down at our fingers there was something comforting knowing that even though she was scared of me that she was willing to save me. I studied her face for a long time noticing how young she really was. But my god was she beautiful and the thoughts that were swirling in my head led down a dangerous path. “How old are you?” I growled out realizing the path was one I was more than willing to go down._

_She laughed and squeezed my hand before trying to walk away. I held hers tighter in return. She looked uncomfortable. “Don’t worry grandpa you’re way older than me.” She joke while struggling to get away from me._

_There was no way I was letting her go until she answered and maybe even then I wouldn’t. I stared at her blankly wanting a real answer._

_“I’m twenty-one.” She said trying to get away from me._

_“Good.” I said doing the one thing I had wanted to do since we sat in the cramped hotel room. I framed her face with my hands and pulled her into a kiss._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These firs three chapters are to set up the story. 
> 
> xoxo M


	3. The Path Between: The End and A New Beginning

** Y/N's POV **

_I gasped in shock. Bucky Barnes was kissing me. The most feared assassin in the world was kissing me._

_My gasp of shock allowed Bucky entrance into my mouth. I could feel him smirk against my lips. Cocky son of a bitch. His hands gripped at my waist as his lips attacked mine. I bit down on his bottom lip enticing a low groan from his mouth before his hands pulled my hips closer to his. My brain stopped working. Without breaking contact he skidded his lips down the side of my neck. I dug both hands into his back as he turned to push me onto the bed. Bucky began to pull up the hem of my shirt as he moved his lips down to the hollow of my neck. This should not be happening._

_I bit back a moan before yanking myself away and rolling onto the floor. I panted. “Don’t….do that again.” I said breathlessly before standing and heading out of the bed room._

_“Y/N…..” Bucky started._

_I turned and glare back at him noticing that his eyes had gone extremely dark. I took a few more steps back. “Don’t.” I said with more control and confidence in my voice than I felt._

_His eyes hardened as he stared at me making me run cold. “It’s going to happen. You and I are inevitable” He said walking towards me._

_“No.” I say turning and heading out of the room. He would never understand that we could never happen._

_He smirked at me. “No matter how scared you are you can’t deny the pull.”_

_I gulped and continued down the hall. God how I wanted to turn around and just finish what he started. I shook my head at my thoughts nothing good would ever come from giving into that temptation._

_As I sat down on the couch I felt Bucky’s eyes on me. I concentrated on a spot on the_   
_trying to push the thoughts about what almost happened out of my mind when Bucky approached me from my place on the couch. “We need to talk.”_

_I swallowed. It has only been a few minutes and my body still felt like it was on fire. There was no way in hell I could have a conversation about what just happened._

_“B-”_

_He chuckled. “Not about that. Escape plan in case they find us first.” He says sitting down on the end table in front of me._

_I studied him for a minute. That was a great idea, one we should have thought of as soon as we arrived. “That’s a great idea…” I said trailing off for him to continue to speak._

_“Weapons?” He asked switching straight to soldier mode._

_I nodded. “There is a tactical storage behind the closet. There’s a number of hand guns, a bow and arrow, two sets of various knives, a bunch of rifles and-“_

_“A full tactical arsenal?” He says cutting me off._

_I shrugged my shoulders. “S.H.I.E.L.D is nothing if not prepared for tragedy.”_

_He nods. “Exits?”_

  
_“The main one we used to get in, the windows, and of course there’s also two emergency exits. One’s a tunnel that leads down to the stream. The other one goes to the nearest town.”_

_Bucky nods. “We’ll use the first one. That way we can use the forest to cover our tracks.”_

_I nodded. “Fine.”_

_“Y/N about ear-”_

_I stood up and glared at him. “Nothing. Nothing happened.” I say vehemently._

_Bucky’s eyes turn cold as he stares at me. “Just because you’re scared of me does-”_

_I groaned backing away from him. “Just let it go Barnes!” I say heading to the bedroom to once again escape Bucky. I felt his eyes burning into my back as I escaped from him, if only there was a way for me to escape myself._

* * *

 

 

_It has been a week and a half, still nothing from Fury or any member of S.H.I.E.L.D. I was getting nervous especially since I seemed to be living with a caged animal, a caged animal who wanted to apparently...No! Do not even go there. Ever since that night I have been avidly avoiding being in the same room as Bucky for extended periods of time._

_I sighed as I walked out of the bedroom and headed past Bucky who was asleep on the couch. I watched him as approached the couch he was wearing a snug black t-shirt and sweatpants which just made things for me worse. As I passed he snaked his arm out to capture my wrist making me stop. Damn, he wasn’t sleeping._

_“Why are you avoiding me?” He growled out._

_“I’m-”_

_He growled and tightened his hand around my wrist. “This is a tiny cabin Y/N. and what did I tell you about lying to me?”_

_I gulped all those stories about Bucky Barnes being a sweet and charismatic man must have been lies because this man was anything but._

_“I was going to say I’m not interested in being around you.” I said putting venom in my voice._

_Bucky tugged on my wrist causing me to topple over the couch and land on top of him. “What did I tell you about lying moya lyubimaya?” He said as he wrapped his arms around my waist caging my body to his._

_“What?” I asked. Okay Nat taught me a lot of Russian that was not one. “Your what?”_

_He smirked at me before his face returned to being serious. “Why are you avoiding me?” He said loosening his hold around my waist._

_I groaned. “We can’t happen Bucky!”_

_I struggled against him, which only landed me into an awkward position. I was now straddling Bucky fricken’ Barnes. This was not going to end well. “I told you why. Not my problem if you don’t believe me.” I said glaring at him. “Let me go Barnes!”_

_He let go of my wrist but instead of letting me up he flipped us over. Bucky leaned down to kiss me but suddenly he turned his head away from me._

_“Let me-”_

_Bucky covered my mouth with his in a ruff kiss. Before pulling away to look out the window. “Sh. Don’t say anything.” He slowly got off of me and pulled me up under his arm. “We have company.” He said dragging me to the bedroom where the weapons were stashed. “Grab all you can carry.”_

_“Buc-”_

_He glared at me. “Don’t speak. Get dressed and ready to leave. It’s the people I worked for.”_

_I gulped and nodded. How the hell did they get to us before Fury? Better question, how the hell had he already heard them coming?_

_I ran to the bedroom and quickly flung open the door to reveal to S.H.I.E.L.D uniforms and quickly began to peel off my clothes. As I tugged the shirt over my head_

_Bucky walked in and stripped off the black t-shirt and I couldn’t help but stare at his well chiseled out chest. I begin to pull my pants on as I stare at him. If anything his metal arm made him even better looking. I shook my head quickly zipping up my pants. This was not the time to be admiring the view._   
_Bucky and I dressed in silence. I began strapping on various knives and hand guns before finally noticing Bucky was staring at me._

_“What?” I whispered attaching the last knife to my thigh._

_“You’re beautiful.” He says zipping up his vest and attaching various weapons to himself._

_“We might die and that’s what you wanted to tell me?” I said sarcastically._

_He gave me a small smile. “Let’s go.”_

_I nod and we make our way to the tunnel. As we enter the tunnel we were silent._

_As we make our way through the tunnel I had a feeling this was not going to end well. Our trek through the tunnel was made in silence until we hit the forest. I just prayed to god that whoever it was Bucky was working for didn’t find us._

* * *

**Bucky’s POV**

  
_I glanced at Y/N pulling out her weapons preparing to fight. I nodded towards the left._

_I led the way she closely followed behind me. For someone so young it amazaed me at the talent she had of being a spy. For twenty minutes we walked in silence until I heard the chopper from above._

_I felt my heart stop. There was no way we could out run or gun them. However, I was not going to let her die because they wanted me. I grabbed Y/N and yanked her against one of the trees that was able to hide both of us._

_“Bu-”_

_I put my hand over her mouth. “I have a plan.” I say making sure to keep my sense on high alert_

_I could feel her trembling._

_I moved my hand off of her mouth and rested my forehead against hers. “You have to promise me something though.” I say running my human arm up and down hers._

_She gives me a weird look. “What?” she whispers out._

_“First promise you’re going to do exactly what I say.”_

_She swallows and nods. “Alright I promise.”_

_I nod. “Say my name.”_

_“Wh-” she stops staring back at me . “I promise Bucky.” She says quietly. “What’s the second thing?”_

_I smile it was nice to hear her say my name, even if it was going to be the last time. I interlock both of our hands. I slowly bring them above her head and pin them there. I desperately lean down and kiss her. Pouring as much of me into the kiss as possible. I wanted her to remember me. I wanted her to think of me even after I was gone. With my metal hand I effectively hold both her arms up and allow my human arm to trace the curves of her body as if to permanently etched it into my mind._

_I smile as I feel her kiss me back with just as much fever. She moans into the kiss and tries to pull her arms free._

_I drop my hand from her and grab the knife attached to my leg. I pulled away from her and locked eyes with her lustful glazed ones._

_I turned off my emotions I needed to protect her best I could._

_“Scream.” I say with a monotone before using my knife to cut a wound into her abdomen. I bit back my bitter smile knowing she would have screamed either way but this way she knew it had to be louder, “Listen carefully Y/N… Don’t come looking for me… Like you said I’m just a ghost story…”_

_I gently helped her to the ground as she screams in pain._

_“Bucky…” She says looking at me like I betrayed her before she lost consciousness_

_I kiss her softly on the lips. “You’ll barely have a scar. It isn’t that bad. The amount of blood you’ll lose won’t be a lot. It will just look like a lot. You’ll wake up and be able to go home. Remember you promised.” I give her a tight smile before standing over her body. “They’ll think you’re dead moya lyubimaya. ”_

_I heard them approach and turned to look at them menacingly. “About time. Tell them the job is done.” I said as I brushed past them heading in the direction the soldier came from. Leaving behind the only human piece of me with the woman covered in blood._

_I brushed past a number of soldiers glaring at each one. I boarded the chopper without another word._

_An hour later we were back at headquarters and I was being led back to the chair. “You think you’re so clever. Too bad you won’t remember a thing Barnes.” I heard a voice say._

_“Enough wipe him and put him back. We will need him for the next phase!” I heard angry voice shout._

_“Yes sir.” The scientist whimpered._

_I opened my mouth and as one of them placed the guard in. I just hoped to God they left her so she could live. In a second my whole mind was consumed with a searing pain I screamed wishing I was dead._

_Normal POV_

  
_I woke up groaning alone in the dark. "Fuck!" I groaned out grabbing a hold of my right side. I remembered looking into Bucky's eyes, the eyes of a predator. I glanced around I was still in the woods...alone. I winced as I looked down to asses the damage. Not a lot of blood nothing vital was disturbed. He did it on purpose. I sighed feeling tears. Great. Just fucking perfect. I stood and began limping in the direction Bucky and I talked about. They took him back. Bucky was gone and I was on my own. I groaned as I used the surrounding trees to keep from falling over. This was just fantastic. His words were on a loop in my head._

 

_“Remember I’m just another ghost story…”_

 

* * *

 

**Present Day (Set During CA:TWS)**

**Y/N's POV**

 

I groaned. As I heard my phone ring, I was going to kill Pierce. I just got off my ninth straight mission I needed a damn break. I don’t give a shit if he was head of S.H.I.E.L.D or not. “Hello?”

“Y/N….”

I sat up quickly. Something was wrong.“Steve wh-”

“We need help. There’s a car out front waiting for you. Don’t ask any questions he’s a friend.” He said before I heard the click.

What the hell? I quickly pulled on my jeans and threw a black t-shirt on along with my combat boots and headed out the door. I spotted a man wearing a green shirt that I didn’t recognize.

“You must be Y/N.”

I quirked my eyebrow at him, “Yeah…” I said waiting for him to tell me who the hell he was. This has to be the guy Steve was talking about.

He stuck his hand out for me to shake. “Sam Wilson, friend of Steve Rogers.”

I nodded. I figured as much.

“Mind coming for a ride with me?” He said rounding to the driver’s side of the car.

I shrugged. “As long as you don’t mind telling me what the hell is going on.

He laughed. “Deal.”

I climbed into the passenger seat of the car. I waited as Sam rounded the car. “How much do you know about what’s going on?”

“Nothing. I honestly just got Stateside three hours ago and wasn’t planning on checking in for a few more hours.” I stared at Sam. “Why didn’t Steve pick me up?”  
Sam gave me a sideways glance. “According to S.H.I.E.L.D him and Natasha are fugitives.”

  
My eyes widened. “There is no way in hell Stev-“

Sam chuckled. “I know . That’s why I am helping.”

“What is going on?”

“I’ll just give you the cheats. Basically Hydra is still around and inside S.H.I.E.L.D. We don’t know how or what they are up to.”

“Shit.” I groaned. All these years working with people lik-I shook my head. “What else?”

“They tried to kill Steve and Natasha.”

“Anything else?”

“Yeah apparently the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D is also dead.”

Fury was dead? The surprise must have been on my face.

“I take it nobody informed you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Surprise. Surprise. We’re we going to?” I asked as we headed further into D.C.

“We are going to get answers but first we have a date to pick up.”

I laughed. “By pick up you mean kidnap?”

Sam laughed. “Same thing, right?”

We climbed out of the car and sat down in the out door portion of a small cafe. We each ordered a drink and paid while waiting for our ‘date’.

“Who exactly are we looking for?” I asked. Sitting down in the chair opposite of him.

“Natasha said to tell you it was Agent Baldy.”

“Sitwell?”

Same laughed. “Yeah. S-Looks like he’s not alone.”

I looked up and recognized Senator Stern and Jasper Sitwell. That was odd I had no idea they ran in the same circles. I watched as Sitwell leaned in and whispered something to the Stern. When Stern and his guards walked away I turned to look at Sam.

“Game time.” Sam said as Stern walked away.

Sitwell glanced at his phone before dismissing his agents. I took a drink of my coffee and watched Sitwell answer his phone.

“Agent Sitwell, how was lunch? I hear the crab cakes here are delicious.” Sam says.

I choke on my coffee and bite back a laugh.

  
Sam wiggled his eyebrows at me before answering whatever Sitwell asked. “The good looking guy in the sunglasses, your ten o'clock with the extremely hot babe.” Sitwell looks at his two. I chuckled to myself. What an idiot.

“Your other ten o'clock.” Sam says and I can tell he was rolling his eyes.

Sitwell turns to see us sitting a few feet away.

“There you go.” He said into the phone before covering it. “This guy is an idiot.”

“Be glad you’ve never had to work with him.” I mumble.

Sam turned his attention back to Sitwell. “ You're going to go around the corner, to your right. There's a grey car, two spaces down. You and I along with this lovely lady are going to take a ride.”

Sam nodded for me to get up but seemed to have to responded to Sitwell again. “Because that tie looks really expensive, and I'd hate to mess it up.”

I looked at Sitwell’s chest and sure enough a small red light from the gun being pointed at him. I laughed Natasha was here.  
Sam and I both got up and followed a ways behind Sitwell back to the car.

As I walked up to him, “Back seat there pal.” I say brushing past him to sit in the front.

Sitwell looked at me confused. “Agent Y/L/N…”

“Sitwell.”

“You working with this traitor?”

I glared at him. “From where I am standing Sitwell you’re the traitor. Now get in the damn car.” I say slamming my door behind me.

Half hour later after randomly driving around the city to make sure we weren’t tracked Sam and I pulled up to a building.

Sam nodded to signal for me to get out. “You take him. I have something to do real quick.”

I nodded and climbed out of the car. “Lets go.” I say grabbing a hold of Sitwell.

He glared at me. “You’re going to pay for this Y/N.”

I glared at him. “I’d like to see you make me. Now get inside.”

We entered the building. “Stairs” I say pushing him in that direction.

He turned to glare at me. As we reach the top set of stairs I spot Nat and Steve.

“Long time know see stranger.” Nat says to me.

I laughed. “Sorry had to pick up my date.”

“Not really your style.” Steve says.

I laugh. “It’s the hair thing right?” I asked.

Steve chuckled before staring at Sitwell. “Lets go Agent.” He says pushing Sitwell before him.

As we came to the roof top exit. Steve throws Siwell across the rooftop followed by Nat and I.

“Tell me about Zola's algorithm.” Steve says stalking Sitwell.

Sitwell smirked. “Never heard of it.”

I coughed. “Bullshit.”

Steve nodded at my comment. “What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?” He questioned Sitwell.

“I was throwing up, I get seasick.”

I rolled my eyes. “He didn’t me your activities on the ship. He meant why the hell were you on the ship in the first place.” I said moving to standing closer to Steve.

Steve forces Sitwell to the edge of the rooftop, Sitwell just smiles. He really thinks he’s a smart guy.

“Is this little display meant to insinuate that you can throw me off the roof? Cause it's really not your style, Rogers.”

Steve brushed off Sitwell’s shoulders and glanced at me and Natasha. I smirked.

“Well he’s not wrong.” I say chuckling.

“You're right. It's not. It's hers.”

Steve steps aside and Natasha kicks Sitwell off the roof, he plummets down screaming. I laugh as I here Sitwell’s pitiful scream.

“Oh, wait. What about that girl from accounting, Laura...?”

I laughed. “Playing match maker again?” I asked.

Nat smirked at me.

Steve shrugged. “Lillian. Lip piercing, right?”

“Yeah, she's cute.”

I wrinkle my nose. No she was not but I decided it best not to comment.

“Yeah, I'm not ready for that.”

Natasha and I laughed. For a man willing to jump out a plane with a parachute dating a woman with a lip ring was not that much of a step up.

Sam flies up holding Sitwell and throws him down on the roof.

“Nice ride.” I comment walking towards a now pitiful Sitwell.

“Zola's algorithm is a program...for choosing Insight's targets!”

All of us exchange a long look. Targets? What the hell?

“What targets?”

“You! A TV anchor in Cairo, the Undersecretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa city. Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA! Now, or in the future.”

“The Future? How could it know?”

Sitwell chuckled “How could it not? The 21st century is a digital book. Zola taught HYDRA how to read it.”

Steve and Nat exchanged confused glances.

“ Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, e-mails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores. Zola's algorithm evaluates peoples' past to predict their future.”

“So basically it uses our past behavior patterns to predict our future ones.”

Sitwell nodded. “Exactly.”

“And what then?” Steve shouted angrily.

“Oh, my God. Pierce is gonna kill me.” Sitwell cried out.

“He’ll just have to get in line.” Sam mumbled to me causing me to laugh.

“What then?!”

“Then the Insight Helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few millions at a time.”

I glared at him. “You’re going to massacre millions of people because you don’t like that they disagree with your warped sense of justice? That’s pretty fucked up.” I say heading off the rooftop.

As we part from the building we all jump into the car.

I sat in the middle of the back while Sitwell sat next to me.

“HYDRA doesn't like leaks.”

I rolled my eyes.

“So why don't you try sticking a cork in it.” Sam said glaring at Sitwell through the rear view mirror.

“Insight's launching in sixteen hours, we're cutting it a little bit close here.” Nat says glancing at the clock.

“Not like we have choice.” I mumble exchanging a glance with her.

“I know. We'll use him to bypass the DNA scans and access the Helicarriers directly.” Steve said without glancing back at us.

“What?! Are you crazy? That is a terrible, terrible idea.”

“You’re the idiot who wanted to be a part of Hydra. So technically this is your terrible idea.” I say staring at Sitwell.

Suddenly there is a large noise and dents in the car roof.

“What in the hell?” I say.

Nat dodges for the front seat and lands on top of Steve. I dodge onto Sam’s lap. A silver hand reaches in the window and pulls Sitwell out of the window throwing him into traffic.

The man on the roof starts to shoot at us but Steve pulls the break handle and he goes flying. As I felt relief enter my body I turned to look behind us and I car is coming at full speed. He jumps back onto the car, smashes through the windscreen and pulls out the steering wheel.

I screamed.

“Shit!” Sam yelled.

Nat tries shooting him but he jumps of our car. As our car is being pulled off of the road Steve holds on to the car door.

“Hang on!” Steve shouts.

I grab Sam and Steve grabs both Sam and Natasha and we fall out of the car. Sam and I end up being thrown onto another car together and go unnoticed.

Sam groaned next to me. “That was fun.”

I try to stand. “Yeah… but lets not do it again.” I say groaning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Winter Soldier or the characters. I do however own the story. I hope you all enjoyed.  
> xoxo M


	4. The Path Between: Old Friends, New Enemies

**Y/N's POV**

I checked my arms wincing definitely going to have road burn.  I stood up warily wincing again. I glanced up looking at the man for the first time. It can’t be… I thought as he is handed a gun. 

“Sam get up. We have to move!” I shout getting to my feet and moving.

He shoots the gun in Steve and Nat’s direction. I watch as Steve shoves her out of the way and takes brunt of the shot with his shield. Steve goes flying off the bridge. I close my eyes please dear god let him be alright.

As soon as Steve is gone the other men begin shooting at us.  
“Shit.” I mumble moving to hide behind a car going unseen.

The fire of weapons increased, as they get closer.  Sam ducks to hide behind the same car I am.

“Well life with Cap is never dull right.”

I groan and pull my gun out. “Dull is not even on the vocabulary list.” I say as we are under fire. “Shit. We have to move.” I say as we both push off of the car and make a run for better cover.

We turn to see another explosion at the car Nat was hiding behind. Followed closely by another. I quick glanced up from our hiding place to see Nat jumping over the edge. I let out a brief sigh of relief.

“We have to help.” Sam says.

“Yeah I’ll get right on that.” I roll my eyes. “Got a weapon?” I asked.

Sam pulled out a knife. “Of course.”  
We heard shots being fired and turned to look out of our hiding place and noticed that they were shooting off the bridge.

“They found Nat.” I say. “We have to help them.”  
Sam nods. “Better get to work then.” Sam stood and headed for the last man on the bridge. He snuck up behind him and before he could secure the rope to his body Sam took his weapon and knocked him off the bridge.

I walked up beside him. “Nice work Wilson.”  
Sam grabbed up the rifle and positioned himself on the bridge. “I’ll help take these guys out then you go and help them.”  
I nod and began to secure the rope to my body. “Ready when you are.”

Sam leaned over and fired a shot at one of the men. “Go, I got this!” Sam says shooting at more agents, “I’ll cover you go.” He says not taking his eyes off the men.

I nod and propel myself off the bridge using the rope. As I land I crouch and remove the rope. I sprint in the direction Steve went. I catch up to Steve. “Did you see him?” I questioned.

“No but..” Steve stopped and we ducked as an explosion in front of us occurred.

“Nat!” I shout sprinting towards the explosion as people ran rapidly away.

I watched as Nat went down and Steve sprung into action and attacked the soldier. As we headed towards she stumbles and falls to the ground as she is shot. Shit.

Steve being much faster than me ran towards the masked man. Stopping him from executing Nat.

I stop and wince as I look at her wound. “Na-”

“Go help Rogers. It’s just a shoulder wound.” I nod and pull my knife out of my pocket having lost my gun running. Thank god I always keep one in the secret pocket of my pants. But as I approached I saw the man mask fall off. He turns to face Steve and me. I sucked in my breath. Bucky. He was real and alive.  “Bucky?” Steve asks stopping his offensive attack.

“Who the hell is Bucky?” Bucky goes to shoots at Steve. Sam flies in and throws Steve aside.

I swallowed. He was-

I watch as an object flies past my per phial vision and explosion follows and knocks into a car close by. I watch as Bucky runs away.

I groaned from the my position in the now shattered windshield. He wasn’t just a figment of my imagination from blood loss. As the sirens got closer we sat in silence. He was alive. I winced as Steve cradled me in his arms. “You alright?” He asked.

I nodded as Steve set me down.

As the cars stopped HYDRA agents surrounded us.

“Drop the shield, Captain! On your knees! Get on your knees! Now! Get down! Get down!” Rumlow shouts butting us with his gun.

We all put our hands up.

“Get on your knees! Down!” He says kicking at Steve’s leg as he kneels down. “Don't move.”

Rumlow looks at the helicopter flying above us and warns the agent holding Steve at gunpoint. “Put the gun down. Not here. Not here!”

All of the agents lower their guns.

I am roughly thrown into handcuffs. I winced as he dragged me up from my still bleeding road burn. I glanced at Steve noticing the heart broken look.

As we are dragged into the van none of us speak.

Steve was the first to speak as we made our way to our deaths. “It was him. He looked right at me and he didn't even know me.”

“How's that even possible? It was like seventy years ago.” Sam said before glancing at an almost passed out Natasha.

I swallowed. Steve did not need to know that I knew him, at least not yet.

“Zola. Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43. Zola experimented on 'em. Whatever he did, it helped Bucky survive the fall. They must have found him.”

“ None of that's your fault, Steve.” Natasha said leaning her head against the side of the van.

“ Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky.” We all exchanged looks. The Bucky I knew felt the same way.

Sam notices Natasha is bleeding from her shoulder and looks at the guards. “We need to get a doctor here. We don't put pressure on that wound she's going to bleed out here in the truck.”

“Sam I think that is the idea.” I mumble glancing down at my lap.

Suddenly one of the guards pulls out an electric rod pointing it towards Sam. However the last second spins the rod around neutralizes the other guard and knocks him out, the guard is revealed to be Hill as she takes off her helmet.

“That thing was squeezing my brain.” She says tossing her helmet on one of the guards she knocked out.

I bit back a hysterical laugh. “Never been so happy to see you Hill.” I say relaxing in my seat.

Sam looks at Maria and then to the rest of us.

“Who's this guy?”

“Sam Wilson. Maria Hill.” Steve says.

Maria pulled something out of her pocket. “We don’t have much time.”  

“So that’s how Fury did it.” I mumble as we follow her to the now huge hole in the ground.

Hill then escorts us all to a facility and I see a man running towards us.

“GSW. She's lost at least a pint.” Maria says to the man.

“ Maybe two.” Sam piped up.

“ Let me take her!” The man, I assumed was a doctor said.

“She'll want to see him first.”

Steve and I exchanged a glance. Who? We are escorted to a room with a ton of machines. We all see Fury alive lying on a bed.

“What the hell?” I asked Steve as we all stared in shock.

“About damn time.” Fury said adjusting himself on the bed.

* * *

 

**Bucky’s POV**

 

We are inside a bank vault, and I stare straight in front of me as one of them tries to fix my metal arm and as they do I try to shake the my thoughts, or maybe they were memories.

_**“** Sergeant Barnes...” An odd looking man says to me._

_Then I am falling off a train at the edge of some sort of mountain with the man with the shield trying to reach me._

_**“** Bucky, no!” He shouts trying to reach for me._

_I try to scream as I am now back with the odd man._

_**“** The procedure has already started.”_

_I watch as the man and doctors begin to amputate my left arm and replace it with the metal arm._

_**“** You are to be the new face of HYDRA.” The man says to me before turning to the other men. “Put him on ice.”_

_I ground my teeth as a woman appears, the one helping the man with the shield._

_“I gently helped her to the ground as she screams in pain._

_“Bucky…” She says looking at me like I betrayed her before she lost consciousness  I kiss her softly on the lips._

_“You’ll barely have a scar. It isn’t that bad. The amount of blood you’ll lose won’t be a lot. It will just look like a lot. You’ll wake up and be able to go home. Remember you promised.” I give her a tight smile before standing over her body. “They’ll think you’re dead moya lyubimaya. ”_

I growl trying to remember more about those people. It was all jumbled and didn't make since.  I reached out with my arm and knocked over the man working on fixing my arm. Another man points a gun at him as if he could stop me from attacking the weakling.

 

I continue to stare straight ahead. Who was the women? What was she to me? What was the man on the bridge to me?

 

Another man entered followed by more armed guards.

 _“_ Mission report.” He demanded.

I stared blankly refusing to respond.

 **“** Mission report, now.” He says more urgently.

He moves closer to me and suddenly strikes me hard in the face. I ground my teeth to stop myself from retaliating.

“ The man on the bridge...” I say remembering him calling me ‘Bucky’ just like the girl from the memory. “Who was he?”

He shrugged,“ You met him earlier this week on another assignment.”

“ I knew him and the woman.” I whisper. So then I knew the beautiful woman as well.

He sits in front of me.

“Your work has been a gift to mankind. You shaped this century, and I need you to do it one more time. Society is at a tipping point between order and chaos. Tomorrow morning we're going to give it a push. But if you don't do your part, I can't do mine, and HYDRA can't give the world the freedom it deserves.

“But I knew them.” I say weakly trying to grasp why I wanted to kill them so bad.

He turns to the scientists. “Prep him.”

“He's been out of cryo-freeze too long.” The man replies shakily.

“Then wipe him and start over.”

They being t strap me to the chair and place a teeth shield in my mouth. I stared ahead of me conjuring up the picture of the woman I remembered. Why was she important?

They place the clamps on my head. I close my eyes briefly and then I am encompassed by a searing amount of pain.

* * *

 

**Y/N's POV**

A few hours later I watched Sam and Steve head outside. I peeled on my S.H.I.E.L.D, well former S.H.I.E.L.D uniform. We were about to raise hell and shed some light on something nobody had thought existed in years. I sighed.

Natasha approached me. “You looked like you saw a ghost.”

“I did.” I say lapsing into silence.

“You knew the Winter Soldier?”

I gave her a pointed look. “So do you from what I hear.” 

She nods. “It’s weird knowing it was Steve’s best friend all these year.” 

“Yeah. It is.” I say not giving her my story on Bucky.  

“Better go get dressed I have a meeting to get to.” Nat said heading off to change.

I watched her leave before turning to attach weapons to my body. I headed out to meet Steve and Sam at the rendezvous point. I bumped into Steve.

Steve returned to his old uniform. I smirked. “Looking’ good Cap.”

 He gives me a genuine smile. “Thanks ma’am.” I laughed.

“So you met agent 13?” I asked as we headed up the stairs to the S.H.I.E.L.D building.

“Yours and Natasha’s timing is off.” Steve mutters as we climb the stairs.

“It’s called multi-tasking Rogers.” 

“That’s hilarious she said the same exact thing.” Steve says as we approach the door.

We stopped as Maria played with the scrambler. “We should be able to get in fairly easy.” She says as we head up more stairs to the control room.

“Nothing is ever easy.” I say to Steve.

Who nods in agreement as we head the rest of the way in silence. We reached the top and we could hear commotion on the other side.

On the other side of the door, “I’ll check it out.” One of the tech guys said.

The door opens and I smirk. Holding my gun as are Hill and Sam. We nod with our heads for him to move aside.  

“Excuse us.” Steve says as the tech holds his hands up and moves aside to let us enter.

Hill starts hacking into the system as Sam and I take stock of the situation around us.

“We are good. Whenever you’re ready Rogers.” Maria says as Steve leans down towards the microphone.

“Attention, all SHIELD agents. This is Steve Rogers. You've heard a lot about me over the last few days, some of you were even ordered to hunt me down. But I think it's time you know the truth. SHIELD is not what we thought it was, it's been taken over by HYDRA. Alexander Pierce is their leader. The STRIKE and Insight crew are HYDRA as well. I don't know how many more, but I know they're in the building. They could be standing right next to you. They almost have what they want: absolute control. They shot the Nick Fury and it won't end there. If you launch those Helicarriers today, HYDRA will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way, unless we stop them. I know I'm asking a lot, but the price of freedom is high, it always has been, and it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not.” Steve says wrapping up his nice speech.

“Did you write that down first, or was it off the top of your head?” Sam said causing me to laugh.

“You guys are just a bunch of comedians.” Steve said snarky. “We need to get to those Helicarriers.

“Good luck guys.” Maria says turning to sit down.

We nod and head towards the bay doors in silence. I prayed to god there were a lot of good men and woman and not a lot of HYDRA scum.

“They're initiating launch.” Hill says into our earpieces as we make our way to the Helicarriers. As we reach the daylight I squinted.

“Hey, Cap, how do we know the good guys from the bad guys?”

“If they're shooting at you, they're bad.” Steve says.

I laughed as I ran behind them both. “And you say we are the comedians Rogers.” I say causing Sam to laugh.

Sam, in his Falcon suit, flies off and Steve heads down, and I use my grappling hook to follow Steve. HYDRA agents starting shooting at us, Sam flies around avoiding getting shot.

“ Hey, Cap, I found those bad guys you were talking about.”

“You okay?” Steve says to Sam before glancing back at me.

Sam takes off as the HYDRA agents continue to shoot at him, “Not dead yet.” He says.

“I will need a long ass vacation after this.” I say to them both as I begin shooting at Hydra agents. “Sam I need a ride I say running and shooting HYRDA agents.

Sam comes up behind me grabbing me around the waist. “Any time for such a pretty girl.”

“Hilarious.” I say as he sets me down on the second carrier.

I head towards the control room with the chip. I winced as I felt myself get shot I looked up and saw that Bucky was the culprit. “There’re way to many of them.  You guys better hurry up.” I say hiding behind cargo containers. 

 

“Incoming Y/N.” Sam warned.

After two minutes Sam and Steve both arrived on the deck. “ Wow make me do all the hard work boys.” I say joining them walking towards the entrance.

“Funny.” Steve says. “Chip?”  
I handed him the last one.

“You know you’re a lot heavier than you look.” Sam says glancing at Steve as we walk.

“I had a big breakfast.” Steve says as we passed a section of containers.

I turned my head to the right as I heard footsteps. Steve was knocked off the carrier by Bucky.

“Steve!” Sam and I yelled at the same time.

Sam dived to go catch him but was caught one handed by Bucky’s metal arm. I turned to run as the two of them fought. Sam was caught by a hook and one of his wings ripped. As he stood he was kicked off the carrier.

“Sam!” I shouted.

“Cap. Cap. Y/N. You okay?”

“Yeah I’m good.”  
“Yeah. I’m heading off the carrier now.” I say. Steve had this handled. I quickly reach for a parachute and turn to see Bucky staring at me unmoving.

I swallowed remember that gaze oh so well. I secured the parachute I could feel his unmoving cold gaze on me. I could feel my shoulder throbbing. I ran and jumped off the carrier and heard gunshots I winced feeling them through the parachute which protected my back.

As I neared the ground and opened the parachute I realized how bad it was going to be. I groaned. And pumped my legs as I got closer to the ground as my feet collided with the earth I stumbled and lost my footing causing myself to fall.

I turned to lay down on my back wishing the pain of the gunshot and bruises I had from today would just leave me in peace. There was no way I was going to move. I felt my eyelids get heavy the last thing I saw as my eyes fluttered closed was the Helicarriers falling out of the sky.


	5. The Path Between: Wake Me Up

**Y/N's POV**

I first opened my eyes wearily at the beeping noise surrounding me. I man with a hooded sweatshirt was sitting next to me staring at me intently. I tried to speak but no words would come out. Who was this guy?

The man picked up my hand and traced patterns as if trying to remember something. “Who are you?” He asked and all I could do was stare at him.

“Who are you?” He asked me again as I caught a glimpse of his piercing blue eyes.

I still could not speak so I closed my eyes and fell into a deep slumber again.

I heard the sound of beeping again as I groggily opened up my eyes for the second time. I looked around and saw Natasha sitting next to me reading some magazine that had her picture on it rather than the man I thought I saw before. I must have dreamt he was there. I sighed and leaned my arms back and pushed my torso up sitting up. Well shit that hurt. I must have been laying here for a while because every muscle in my body is screaming. I winced as I sat up further; my body was way too stiff.

“That’s a terrible angle of your face.” I say with a raspy voice to her knowing that she is aware that I am awake.

She turns her head and playfully glares at me. “Here I was sitting here making sure you’re okay.”

I chuckled and reached my hand up to rub my throat. “I’m just peachy. Every part of my body hurts but at least I feel great.” My voice sounded just as bad as it felt even with the sarcasm laced with it.

Natasha notices me rubbing my throat and she laughs grabbing the water from the tray and handing it to me. “Glad to see your humor never left.” She says.

I rolled my eyes taking the glass from her and bringing it to my own parched lips. I sighed as the cool liquid slid down my throat. Never has anything felt so good.

“How long was I out?” A few days at most. I moved my legs to get rid of some of the stiffness.

“A few days.” She says before turning her attention back to her magazine.

I nodded and observed the way she is dressed before laughing lightly to myself. “Nice outfit by the way. Going horseback riding?”

She laughed. “You’re hilarious.” She says flipping yet another page of the magazine.

I smiled before wincing as I readjusted my position on the uncomfortable bed. “I know. It is one of my many talents. So where are you really going?”

She shook her head. “Actually I have to go to Capitol Hill.”

I nodded closing my eyes. They must have wanted answers. “You going to be okay?” I said opening one eye to look at her.

She shrugs and gives me a forced smile. “I always land on my feet.”

I let out a sigh. “Nat that was not the question.”

She stands up and sets down her magazine. “I will see you soon.”

I groan forcing my stiff body to adjust again. “Be careful.”

She nods. “I have got this Y/N. Doctor says you’ll be released soon any way.”

“How’s Steve and Sam?” I asked.

“Steve has yet to wake up also. Sam is waiting with him.”

I nodded. “I guess I will be making my way to see him.”

She nods before turning to shut the door. “He shot you.”

I took a deep breath and stared at her. “I am aware of that.”

“You didn’t shoot him back.” She accused.

I swallowed. “Nat-“

“Why?”

“It is very complicated.” I say running a hand through my greasy hair.

“You knew him.”

I sighed and swung my legs over the side of the bed to stand up. “Yes. “

“You never thought to tell Steve?” She accused.

I pushed myself off the bed with my arms. This is exactly why I didn’t tell her. “I didn’t think he was real. I thought I made him up when I had to babysit that prince.”

Nat’s eyes widened remember the weeks I had been missing and no one could figure out where I was. She nods. “You never talked about it.”

I shrugged as I stood on shaky legs. “I’ve never talked about a lot of things.”

“Were you his target?” She asked.

I figured she was thinking of her own experience with him.

“Yes.”

“Then why didn’t you kill him?” She asked.

“Because he didn’t kill me.” I said simply while gently trying to roll my shoulders.

“You just said you we-“

“I was Nat. He made a different call. He saved my life twice.” I said cutting her off.

We sat in the silence for a while before she turned to head out the door but quickly turns back around to face me. “Would you trust me?”

I looked at her as I tried to stand up completely. “What?”

“It is a simple question Y/N.”

“Yes. I always have. I know who you really are Nat.” I said giving her a weird look.

She smiled. “I’ve done a lot of things I am not proud of.”

“Can I get a list?” I joked.

She gave me a pointed look that was meant to be serious.

“I have too. I can live with it thought Nat and so can you. Other people can’t.” I said simply.

She shook her head. “Thank you.”

I scrunched up my nose, “What for?”

“Trusting me.” She says simply before disappearing out of my room and down the hall way.

I sighed as her words played over and over again in my mind. I needed to tell Steve what I knew. I took a deep breath and began to walk out of my room dragging my IV with me. After twenty minutes of searching I found Steve’s room was on the opposite side of the floor.

I knocked when I noticed that he was awake. “Afternoon boys.” I said leaning against my IV for some support since my muscle were still stiff.

“You look fantastic.” Sam says holding back a laugh.

“It just makes you want to ask me on a date doesn’t it Wilson?” I said wiggling my eyebrows.

“Pretty much.” He says laughing at me.

I turned to take Steve in he looked a hell of a lot better than me. “How you doing Steve?”

He gave me a small smile. “I’m fine.”

I looked down at my hands that were stationed on my IV. “I need to tell you some things. You’re not going to like them but I think that it is time I told you.”

Steve and Sam exchange a look. “What is it about?” Steve asked.

I moved further into the room and shut the door as to not be overheard. “Bucky.”

Sam stood up. “I’m going to head to the VA.” He moved me and slid the door back open. “You can both fill me in later.” He said slipping the door close and disappearing from sight.

I sighed and made my way to the chair that Sam just vacated.

I could feel Steve’s eyes burning into my skin. “You knew him too?”

I looked down at my hands in my lap. “It is complicated.” I say. How could I tell him without hurting him? He thought he was alone this whole time and I knew he wasn’t. Well that’s kind of true. I just thought I imagined Bucky.

Steve nods. “How did you meet him?”

I smiled sadly down at my hands and looked back up at Steve. “I was in London on an babysitting job.”

“Babysitting?” Steve asked not believing me.

I laughed. “I had to watch some snobby prince for a week. It was the equivalent of babysitting a child.”

Steve laughed as he shifted to sit up. “Okay. Was he sent to kill the prince?”

I gulped this was going to be the hard part. “No. He was sent to kill me.”

Steve closed his eyes absorbing the information I just gave him. “I see.”

“I recognized him from all the pictures.” I said recalling how I thought he looked so familiar.

“What happened?”

“I ran. He chased me but when I recognized him it was like…It’s hard to explain.” I said stopping to think about how I showed phrase it.

Steve waited patiently for me to collect my thoughts.

“I confused him by asking if I knew him. He tried to kill me Steve but he didn’t. He looked so lost.”

Steve nodded. “Did he hurt you? I mean I know he tried killing Natasha.”

“No we…” I stopped to laugh. “I actually ended up saving his life. They wanted to kill him Steve. They kept mentioning ‘wiping’ him so I dragged him with me.”

Steve gave me a tight smile. “I want to thank you for saving him.”

I shrugged. “That’s not the whole story Steve. He saved me to. Once when he didn’t choke me to death and the second time when…” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “I stabbed me to make it look like I was dead so I could escape. He went back because of me. I just thought I imagined him until we saw him the other day.”

“He saved you.” Steve says.

I smiled at him and grabbed his hand giving it a squeeze. “He did remember you Steve. I had to tell him you died. Turns out I lied about that.” I said laughing.

He laughed with me. “Thank you for sharing.”

I nodded and squeezed his hand again. “We will find him for you. He’ll know who you are Steve. I promise.”

Steve squeezes my hand back gently. “Thank you.”

I lean my head back against my chair. “You’re my friend Steve. Friends help friends it is just the way that it works.”

Steve squeezes my hand again. “Well thank you for being my friend then Y/N.”

* * *

Steve was released three days ago. While I just got released today. Everything still hurt so much. I sighed as I made my way into my apartment building and my phone started to ring.

“Hello?” I said entering the lobby of my apartment.

“Y/N.”

I mentally groaned as the male voice rang through the phone. “Tony…”

“I heard you’re in need of a job.” He says and I could tell he was smirking through the line.

I open the door to the stairs and take them slowly. “Now who would tell you that?” I asked only hitting the first level of steps.

“Well Hill showed up for a job interview and I figured if I hired her I needed to hire the best.” Tony says.

“How sweet of you to think of me Stark.” I said sarcastically. Working for Stark would not be so bad. I mean he has only offered me the job twice since the events in

New York so it would not be so bad to work for him.

“Glad you think so. I will see you tomorrow then. Be at the tower at one.”

I shook my head as I hit the second flight of stairs. “One that’s a little late…” I say trailing off.

“Nonsense it is the perfect time.” Tony says with enthusiasm.

I laugh but as I hit the last flight of stairs before my floor I see a trail of blood drops leading all the way up to my floor. I mentally groaned. I was not in any shape for fighting off an intruder inside of my home.

“Alright Stark, one it is. Now I need rest.” I say hoping to end the call before I get to my floor.

“Alright sweet cheeks see you then.” Tony says before hanging up on me.

I quickly slid my phone into my pocket as I hit my floor. I quietly walked over to the fire extinguisher was I had a gun stashed. I pulled it out and placed the extinguisher back in its place. I really needed a vacation. I quickly opened my door and silently began to walk into my apartment with my gun drawn and on high alert.

I walked into my living room. No one was there. I glanced at the floor there were drops leading to my bed room. I groaned again. I could not catch a break at all this week. With my gun still drawn I was about to make my way to my room when I knock on my door startled me. Shit. I carefully stowed my gun in the waist band of my jeans and walked towards my door. I entered the password to my door cam and seen it was the guy from across the hall. Wonderful. I looked down at my appearance my sweatshirt and jeans covered up all the bruises scattered on my body. I knew for a fact that my face looked fine so him seeing that was not a big deal.

I opened the door and plastered a smile on my face. “Tom, how are you?” I say faking cheeriness.

He smiled. “I’m fine. Where have you been?” He says shifting his weight from foot to foot.

“Oh I went with some friends to the Hamptons.” I said lying easily.

He laughed. “I hoped you enjoyed it without your boyfriend.”

I felt all my instincts go on high alert. “Yeah well he couldn’t get off.” I said playing along with him. So the blood drops were from a guy. That was good to know.

“Yeah. Anyway here’s your mail from the last couple weeks. I have to go but I want to meet that man soon. He is extremely attractive.” He says disappearing down the stairs.

“Dinner soon.” I say. Attractive guy, thank god for noisy neighbors.

I shut the door quickly and toss the mail on the floor before retrieving my gun. I quickly made my way back to my room. The door was open and a large figure was on my bed. I silently made my way to the other side.

“Don’t shot me.” I deep husky voice said from my bed.

“Don’t move then.” I replied as a since of relief filled me. “Jesus Barton. What are you doing here?” I say running a hand through my hair.

“Needed a place to crash that Rumlow wouldn’t go near. Or any other HYDRA agents.”

I groaned and put my gun away. I was really expecting it to be Bucky. “So you picked my place?”

“Yeah well your noisy neighbor would have said something since you dated Rumlow if he were to show up so yeah I picked your place.”

I groaned. “Thanks for the reminder of that.”

Clint turned to look at me. “You thought I was someone else.”

I rolled my eyes. “Well I wasn’t really expecting any one. But yes I thought you were someone else.”

Clint nodded. I moved to my bedroom window and looked out and as I glanced at the roof across from me my eyes were met with a glare. There was a sniper sitting there looking into my apartment.

“How long have you been staying here Clint?” I asked quickly moving away from the window and out of range of the sniper.

“A few days. Why?”

“Did you happen to notice the sniper on the roof?” I asked heading out of my bed room..

“The wh-I came back clean.” He says standing from the bed in boxers and a newly stitched wound on his chest. Which explained the drops of blood.

“You left a blood trail to my aprtament dude. How clean could you have come back?” I said sarcastically.

Clint shook his head looking around for his shirt. “I came back clean.” He repeated to me.

My eyes widened as I locked eyes with Clint. “They followed me.”

I rushed to my living room. “Seriously Y/N! You should know better! You always have to check and make sure.”

“I was careful!” I growled out.

“Do me a favor.” Clint says from my room..

“What?” I said already knowing what he was going to ask.

“Be more careful next time.” He says and my guess is he is throwing on jeans and a t-shirt. “Why you?”

“That’s an excellent question and when we see him we should ask.” I said sarcastically. As we both moved further into my living room. Me by the window to get a better view and him standing behind the couch.

“How’s Steve?” Clint asked as I moved closer to the window to get a vantage point of the sniper perched across the way.

“Better shape than I am. He and Sam are tracking down an old buddy of his.” I said making sure I did not mention I knew him. Even though I am pretty sure Nat already told him. “How was your mission?” I say slowly moving the curtain as not to give away I was alert about the sniper.

He shrugged. “Cut short due to the fact S.H.I.E.L.D does not exist anymore.” He says shrugging.

I opened the curtain only enough for me to see out. The sniper was gone. That was really odd unless he was here to get intel and not here for killing one of us.

“Yeah must suck. He’s gone.” I say moving away from the curtain and deeper into the living room in case the sniper came back.

Clint shrugged and laid down on my couch. “Must suck? You’re out of a job to.” He says with a muffled voice.

“I’m taking Stark up on his offer.” I say shrugging and padding into my kitchen for some water.

Clint groaned. “That is a terrible idea.”

I laughed. “Tony was very adamant that he could use my skill set.”

I heard Clint sit up as I opened up the fridge. “I am not sure that your professional skill set is the one he was referencing to.”

I laughed again as I grabbed the Britta filter and flipped Clint off with the other hand. “You’re hilarious.” I say shutting the fridge with my foot and grabbing a glass from the clean dishes, which Clint must’ve done, on the counter/

Clint chuckled from the couch. “You’re seriously going to work for Stark?”

I poured water in to my glass and shrugged, “Why not?”

“You may have better options Y/N. You’ve only been out of a job for a little while.” He says.

I shrugged. “When S.H.I.E.L.D is rebuilt I will go back until then I think that working for Stark is the right move…At least for now.” I say putting the water away and taking a long swig from my glass.

“Maria’s also going there.” I pointed out to Clint.

“So you have an interview tomorrow?” He asked.

I gave him a pointed look. “No, Tony told me the job is mine.”

Clint sat up and gave me a strange look. “Just like that Y/N?”

I smirked at him. “Just like that Barton. Like I said Tony needs someone of my skill set.”

Clint chuckled. “That just sounds wrong Y/N.”

I shrugged taking the last big gulp of my water. “Doesn’t matter. I’m heading to bed.”

Clint nodded. “I’m crashing here tonight.”

I nodded and set my glass in the sink. “Spare room is all yours Barton.”

He laughed. “Thanks Y/N.”

“Night Barton.” I said heading to my room.

"Night Y/N." He says.

Once I was in my room I shut my door and let out a deep breath. Who was the sniper? What did they want from me? I thought as I stripped out of my clothes. As I pulled my shirt over my head I winced. I hope to god Tony does not make me do too much tomorrow. I slipped my night shirt over my head and climbed into my bed. More importantly who was the man who was in my room the first day I woke up? Was it Bucky? I thought as I fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoy. I will be updating this along with my other writings more frequently.  
> xoxo M


	6. The Path Between: Shadow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. “Ona moya.” (She is mine.)

**Y/N's POV**

_I continued pulling on weapons preparing to fight before turning and looking at Bucky. He nodded and led the way out of the small cabin. I made sure to follow behind him closely._

_It was important that we stayed silent as not to draw attention to ourselves. For twenty minutes we walked in silence. I watched as Bucky seemed to go on alert. Then suddenly I was shoved up against a large tree._

_“Bu-”_

_He put his hand over my mouth to silence me. “I have a plan.” He says looking every bit as lethal as I was once told._

_I could feel my body tremble but made sure not to speak._

_Bucky moved his hand off of my mouth and rested his forehead against mine. “You have to promise me something though.” He says running his human arm up and down mine causing goose bumps._

_I give him a weird look. “What?” I whisper out._

_“First promise you’re going to do exactly what I say.” He says continued to rub my arms._

_I swallow and nod. “Alright I promise.”_

_He nods. “Say my name.”_

_“Wh-” I say staring at him like he had grown two heads. “I promise Bucky.” I say quietly. “What’s the second thing?”_

_I watch as he smiles and interlock both of our hands. He slowly brings them above my head and pins them there. He desperately leans down and kisses me. It was like he knew this was going to be the last time we saw each other. I felt him pour more into the kiss. Then suddenly with his metal hand he effectively holds both my arms up and allows his human arm to trace the curves of my body as if to permanently etch it into his mind._

_I kissed him back with just as much fever as he did. I can feel him smile against my lips as I moan into the kiss and try to set my arms free from his hold._   
_He drops his hand from me and grabs the something. The lust still evident in my eyes as he pulls away. I watch in horror as he turned into the man I was supposed to fear._

_“Scream.” He says in a monotone before using his knife to cut a wound into my abdomen._

_I screamed out in pain._

_“Listen carefully Y/N… Don’t come looking for me… Like you said I’m just a ghost story…” He says before gently helping me to the ground as I continue to scream in pain._

_“Bucky…” I say with betrayal evident in my voice before I start to lost consciousness._

_He kisses me softly on the lips. “You’ll barely have a scar. It isn’t that bad. The amount of blood you’ll lose won’t be a lot. It will just look like a lot. You’ll wake up and be able to go home. Remember you promised.” I groggily watch him give me a tight smile before standing over my body. I try to keep my eyes open just a fraction as I watch his pierce blue gaze move further away from me.“They’ll think you’re dead moya lyubimaya. ” I hear his words ring in my head before I fully lose consciousness._

I woke up with a start and realized I had sweated so much in my sleep that I had drenched my shirt. I rubbed my face with my hands. It has been a long time since I had that dream. I thought back to the man with the hood, his eyes were so famil…”Oh my god.” I said before running a hand through my hair. The man in the hooded sweatshirt had the same color eyes as Bucky did, well Bucky did the last time I saw him. Did he remember me? I thought as I threw the covers off of me I glanced at the clock, elven am. I quickly got out of my bed as more questions began to swirl in my mind. Was he the sniper? Was he sent to kill me? Was he just trying to remember? What did he want from me? I mentally groaned at the direction of my thoughts. I quickly headed to the bathroom to shower. I stripped off my drench shirt and looked at it in disgust as I tossed it onto my tiled bathroom floor. I started the shower and made sure it was warm before stepping in.  
How did Bucky even get past the agents? Why had he gone to see me and not Steve? Was he still with Hydra? I thought before shaking my head and turning around to rinse my hair. If he was alive this whole time then why was I still alive? What did they do to him?

  
I felt more agitated than ever as I stepped out of the shower. There were so many questions swirling around my brain that I was sure that it was going to explode. With S.H.I.E.L.D now dismantled maybe I would finally get answers to questions about my own past.

I quickly stepped out of the shower and toweled off before looking in the mirror to inspect my damage. To say I looked like shit would be an understatement. I shook my head I had an hour before I had to leave and meet Tony.

I quickly got ready and threw my hair up into a ponytail after straightening it. I inspected my hours’ worth of work. I sighed at least it was an improvement from what it was before. I walked out of my room wearing a black pants suit with a maroon top and was meet with the sight of coffee and a muffin at my island along with a note.

I picked up the muffin and took a bite before reaching for the note. I smiled and shook my head.

_‘You’re going to need this if you’re working for Stark. –C’_

I laughed a little before finishing my breakfast and glancing at the clock. I would be right on time to meet Stark if I left now. I took a deep breath. I hope to god Tony is not a complete ass today because I may just shoot him. I went and retrieved my phone before heading out towards my door and grabbed my keys. I made sure to set the alarm and headed out of my apartment.

As I walked out of my building I had an odd sensation of being watched wash over me but I continued walking in the direction of Stark Tower in hopes of it just being me acting paranoid.

* * *

 

**Bucky's POV**

 

I watched through my scope as the woman made her way out of her apartment before breaking down my weapon and heading down the fire escape to follow her. I leaned against the entry way of the alley of the building across from her waiting for her to leave.

It was odd how easy it was for me to find her after what had transpired. After visiting her in the hospital I realized she held a lot of answers along with the blonde man from the bridge. I needed them to fill in the empty voids in my mind. It was like putting together a puzzle but only having half of the pieces.

I made sure to stay in the shadows of the building silhouettes as not to be found by her. I watched as she exited the building and began to walk. I felt my self scowl in her condition she should not be walking.

_I watch as the man with the wings sets the girl down._

_“Hilarious.” She says as he sets her down on the second carrier._

_I make my way towards them as I see the chip in the girls hand. I grab my gun and shot her. I watch as she winces and turns to look at them. I watch as she ducts down between the cargo containers._

_“There’re way toomany of them. You guys better hurry up.” She shouts trying to stay hidden from me behind cargo containers._

_I make my way towards the woman when I see both of the men arrive on the deck. I watch as she moves out of her hiding spot to join them. “ Wow make me do all the hard work boys.” She says as they walk towards the entrance._

_“Funny.” Says the when with the helmet. “Chip?”_

_I watched as the girl handed him the chip._

_“You know you’re a lot heavier than you look.” The one with the wings says glancing at the other guy as they walked._

_“I had a big breakfast.” He says as they passed a section of containers._

_I decided it was best to make a move and ran at the one with the helmet and kicked him off the carrier._

_I turned and watched the girl look at me in horror before turning back to were I kicked the guys off yelling his name._

_“Steve!” They yelled at the same time._

_The guy with the wings dived to go catch him but I caught him and threw him the other way.As we fought he tried to fly away but I ripped one of the wings off and kicked him off the carrier as well._

_I turned towards the girl waiting for her to attack me._

_  
I watched as she yelled once again._

_“Sam!” she shouted. I watch her nod at something before “Yeah. I’m heading off the carrier now.” She said and reached for a parachute._

_I watched her as she shifted it on and winced. She glanced at me and I could tell I was missing something. I watched as she ran and jumped off the carrier. I reached my gun and let a few round go. I watched as she winced as the bullets hit the parachute. Why did I feel like I betrayed them? I thought as I made my way down towards the control room._

I had shot her and she still did not attack. Why? Why did the guy insist on saving me? Why was I plagued by memories that seemed to make no sense?

I continued to follow her a few blocks and watched as she went on alert.

She must have sensed my presence because she kept taking random turns as if to stray me. Had to admit I was impressed she was a hell of a lot smarter than some of the people they sent me after. After a good ten minutes of zig sagging I watched her approach the large ugly tower in the middle of the city. She stopped walking as a car approached the sidewalk and some man got out of the car and smiled at her. He pulled her in and kissed her before quickly releasing her and walking her into the tower. I watched as she laughed at something he said.

Who was she? Why did I feel like I needed to remember her?

I made myself comfortable and leaned against the wall of the building waiting for her to exit. About six hours later I watched her walk out of the building with the blonde guy and head back to her place. I felt my blood run cold as he hugged her tightly.

Did I remember her because of him?   Who was he?

I felt my frustration build as they continued to walk together. He kept his arm around her waist which only angered me more. “Ona moya.” 1. I growled as I followed them through the streets.

The man did not seem to notice but the girl was very alert. I watched as she took a cautious look around. My breath hitched as he eyes glanced over me and kept surveying the area. She really was breathtaking. I followed them and watched as they got to the girls apartment. I watched as she surveyed the area. Our eyes locked before she turned her attention back to the man and invited him in.

I watched as they entered the building digesting the fact she had made me without me even noticing.

“She’s beautiful right?” A man sitting on the ground asked.

I just turned to stare at him.

He chuckled. “A woman like that is hard to find.” He says as he rolls out some blankets.

I grunted at him in response. I was more interested in her mind than in her beauty. She held answer I needed.

I glanced one more time at the apartment before disappearing into the shadows. Someday soon I was going to get the answers I needed from the mysterious woman.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed loves. The more feedback I get the faster I will put the next chapter up./  
> xoxo M


	7. The Path Between: Cat or Mouse?

**Y/N's POV**

It has been a week since I have been working for Stark and the job was not as bad as I thought. Hanging out with Tony was a lot more relax than hanging out with a bunch of spies, at least until a healed a little bit more. I grabbed my mug and moved towards the window. I made sure to keep to the shadows as I looked out and spotted the sniper on the roof top across the street. I leaned against the wall staring at him. He seemed quite comfortable waiting for me to make an appearance.

_I felt uneasy as I was walking out of the Tower. Whoever was following me was sitting in wait. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I made sure to school my exterior features as I head out the door._

_“Y/N!” A voice shouted from behind me._

_I turned smiling to face Steve. “Well long time no see Captain.” I said as I moved my hand to salute him._

_Steve laughed and wrapped his arm around my waist as we exit the building together. “You’re a pain in my ass.”_

_I through my head back laughing, “Thank you.”_

_He shook his head as we continued to walk._

_“So you’re doing alright?” Steve asks._

_I smile at him as I stayed on high alert. “Yeah, why would I not be?” I asked even though I knew I was not considering I had someone following me._

_"Just checking on you. Mind if I walk you home?” Steve asks._

_“I would be honored.” I say letting out a fake girly squeal that I knew would make him laugh._

_“Shut up.” He says chuckling._

_I laughed. “You really enjoy it when they do that don’t you?” I ask as we wait at a stop light. I cautiously look around nonchalant as possible. I did not need to alert my stalker I knew he was there. I looked around and my eyes slid over a man trying his best to blend into the shadows and felt my blood run cold. Definitely the sniper, I continued my survey before turning my attention back to Steve as if I had not made the man who was following me._

_As Steve and I chatted i made sure not to give away the fact we were being followed. I needed to find out who the man was working for. We stopped on my stoop._

_“So I guess this is where I leave you?” Steve says smiling sadly at me._

_I knew he did not want to be alone. With Sam on a date, and Nat hiding Steve’s options were pretty limited considering he did not want to date right now._

_I smiled down at him. Before surveying the area again and making direct eye contact with the man following me. I watched as he stilled, probably stunned that he was made. I quickly averted my attention back to Steve._

_“Nah, come on Steve.” I said nodding towards the door. “I don’t exactly want to drink alone.” I say laughing and opening the door._

_Steve laughed. “You do know that I can not get drunk right?”_

_I laughed as the door closed. "Well maybe you should get me drunk then."_

I continued to stare at the man across the street as I recalled the first night I noticed him. I took a drink of my coffee and watched him through the crack in the curtain. He had yet to make a move on me,so that limited down who had sent him after me. There was a large chance that it was Bucky just looking for answers, as he had when he visited me in the hospital. I took another drink of my coffee as I studied the mans profile. It could also be HYDRA thinking I would lure Bucky out and are watching me. I leaned up against the wall as I maintained my place near the window. It could also be whoever sent Bucky after me all of those years ago. I had not alerted any one of my little friend but maybe it was time I called in a few favors to find out exactly what I was up against. I used my leg to push off the wall and head back into the kitchen to leave. I felt better but I knew I was not strong enough to confront this foe head on whether it was Bucky or somebody else. I looked down at my gunshot wounds at least they were starting to heal.

I sighed as I picked up my shoes from where I set them in the kitchen. i slid them onto my feet and made may way towards the entrance. I grabbed my black leather jacket from the coat hanger and shrugged it on as I checked myself in the mirror by my front door.  I reached for my keys and phone form the bowl on the table before heading out of the door. I made sure to turn on my security system as I exited my apartment. Making  my way downstairs I said hi and smiled at a few of the other residents. As I got out of the complex I noticed that the sniper hid further in the shadows than he had been in the previous days to stay hidden. I groaned and made sure to take the same route as to not deter him. If I changed my route he may make a move and I was not ready for that, at least not physically. I continued to weave through city blocks as I felt the snipers eyes following me. I made it a point not to glance at him, even though it was tempting. I rolled my shoulders as I felt his eyes burn into me causing a prickly sensation. I approached the Tower I saw Tony outside with Bruce heatedly discussing some thing.

“Morning boys.” I said cheerily, trying to shake the prickling feeling off I had as his heated gaze remained on me.

“Morning Y/N.” Tony says smiling and pulling me into a hug.

“Sorry but today I need you to go work with Maria at Stark industries. “ I laughed trying my hardest not to turn to look at the sniper.

“That’s alright.” I said as we hugged.

“Which is why, as an apology, I am going to let you have a car.” He says smirking at me as he pulled away.

I laughed. “How generous of you.” I said as moving away from Tony and placing a kiss on Bruce’s cheek. “Maybe I will see you boys later.” I said as I climbed into the car leaving them to return back to their heated discussion.

I leaned my head back as the door shut and the driver slowly pulled away from the tower. I glanced out the tinted windows back to where the man waited in the shadows. Not going to follow me now are you buddy? I thought sighing in relief as the tingling sensation began to disappear the more we distanced ourselves between him. I rested my head on the back of the seat as I was drove to the New York headquarters of Stark industries. I closed my eyes as my thoughts swirled once again on the potential people who might be following me or have been sent to follow me. I slowly pulled my phone out of my pants pocket and dialed an all to familiar number.

“Hello?” A clipped feminine voice said.

“Hey Birdy, I need a favor.” I said using my nickname as a way to protect her as I spoke into the phone and glanced at my surroundings.

“Explain.” She said in a terse tone. Which meant she was undercover and didn't have much time to talk.

“I need all the intel you can get your hands on about Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, and whatever HYDRA has on me.” I said making sure to give her just what she needed to end the conversation.

“Consider it done.” She says.

“Be careful.” I say knowing exactly what kind of situation she was in.

"You too." She said before hanging up.

I nodded to myself as I heard the dial tone. It was funny that she had to remind me of that when I used to be a spy known for it. I glanced out the window as the car pulled to a stop. Before the driver could even have the chance I got out of the car and made my way inside of the building.

As I passed through security I was met with Maria leaning up against the welcome desk. “Long time no see.” She says smirking at me.

“I knew you could not live with out me so I decided I had to come see you." I say playing along.

"Good." She says nodding for me to follow her. "How exactly did you pass the lie detector test?" She questioned as we approached a secure corridor

I laughed. "I'd say the same way you did," I say pausing, "But I am way more intelligent than some machine."

She smiled at me as she nodded for me to follow her down the corridor. "That may be true.."

"Actually, Stark did not make me take one." I said honestly as we walked down the secure hallway.

Maria laughed. "Of course not, you have such a trust-able face." She says laughing and pressing the button waiting for yet another door to open.

I force a laugh out as well. "I'm pretty sure that is not what Tony was looking at when he offered me the job." I point out. I knew Maria was as straight laced as they came I mean she could probably recite the book for me.

She continues to laugh, "That is a good point." She says before turning to actually study me. "Why did you take it anyway?"

I shrugged. "Same reason as you I suppose." I say turning my head to face her.

"Oh?" She says quirking an eyebrow at me.

"I needed someplace I could trust." I say shrugging as the  doors open and I wait for her..

"Well then, welcome to the private enterprise of global security." She says motioning her arms around as we move down the now crowded corridor.

I glanced around the floor and noticing the military personal, sorry private security.  “I can see that, Tony did always think he was larger than life.” I say glancing at the men in combat boots as they passed by us. “How did your interview go?” I asked turning my attention back onto Maria.

She shrugs, "S.H.I.E.L.D. imploded and everyone wants answers. The FBI, CIA,NSA, NRO, them I can handle, but Congress, Congress is like kindergarten." She says letting out a tense laugh.

 

“Yeah Nat did say it was pretty bad.” I mention following her down the corridor."Thank god I was hospitalized." I mumble to myself.

 

“You know where she is?” Maria questioned pausing in front of a door that required a hand scan.

 

I smiled at her. “Now, now Hill you and I both know even if I did know I would not answer that.” I say as she pushed the door open.

She shrugs. "Not like I would do anything." 

I studied her. "I didn't say that." 

She moves around the desk and retrieves a file out and hands it to me. 

I studied her. "I didn't say that. So why was I needed here?”

 

Marie laughed as she walked around the desk. “Y/N, this is where you will be working but because of your-“

I nodded in understanding. “Well it’s such a pity I was hoping to see Tony everyday.” I say laughing.

 

“Sorry to disappoint, and sorry that Tony didn’t tell you he-“

 

“I know. So what exactly is my job here?” I asked moving on from the conversation.

 

“We think we found a HYDRA cell, and want to move on it before Coulson goes after it.” She says pulling out a file and handing it to me.

  
I nodded as I reviewed the file. “When do we start?” I asked looking up at her from the file.

"Now." She say curtly.

 


	8. The Path Between: Through the Lense

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Vskore moya lyubov' (Soon my love)

**Bucky's POV**

 

 

My waited across the street from the large building in the shadows as the woman came out accompanied by fifteen other individuals in tactical uniform with various weapons strapped to their person. I watched as the woman nodded at something the only other woman said. I studied her through the end of my scope noticing how she seemed more relaxed now than she had in the last few weeks that I had been following her. I smirk to myself; foolish woman thought that because she took an unexpected trip that I would not still be watching her.

 

_Throughout the last week she always went home with one of the men from the ugly tower. Whether it was the man from the bridge, the guy with wings, or the guy that seemed to be sleeping over at her place. She was never alone for very long. I let out a frustrated growl. I needed some answers and she was the best place to start._

_I watched as the man from the bridge exited the apartment for the fourth time since I have been watching her before making my way across the road. I silently climbed up the fire escape to her floor and sat down waiting patiently for two hours after she turned the lights off to ensure she would not be awake when I went in._

_I quietly slid open the kitchen window near the fire escape and climbed through making sure to be silent as my feet hit the floor. I glanced around as my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room. It noticed the place looked like on one really lived here. I made my way to the left of the kitchen down the hall. I grabbed my knife that was in its sheath behind me in case of any special guests were staying over._

 

I turned the door knob and silently walked into the bed room. Before silently closing the door in case she awoke. I stared at her shape on the bed and knew that she was indeed alone. How easy would it be just to take her? How easy would it be to get my answers from her if I just took her now?

I shook my head I was not going to do it that way. I needed to bide my time to better prepare myself for what I wanted answers to other than what I found at the Smithsonian about myself. I moved closer to her bed as I put my knife back in its sheath and took out the micro tracker I had called in from an old buddy of mine, well not buddy but a man who was terrified enough of me to give me what I asked with no questions and no trace of where it came from. I picked up her phone and silently slid the tracker between her case and her phone to ensure that she did not find it unexpectedly. I needed to make sure I was able to find her at all times. I pulled out my own untraceable phone opening the app that allowed me to see where the tracker was at all times. I grinned to myself as I saw the blue dot turn green to signify that it was operational. I set her phone back down exactly as she had it to ensure that she was not aware of any other presence inside of her home. I glanced at her sleeping form before smirking. “Vskore moya lyubov' I whispered as I went out the same way I came in .1

 

I shook my head maybe she was not as good as I had once assumed if she thought that she lost me. I broke down my rifle and strode towards the car that I stole. I set my broken down rifle down next to me before reaching for my phone. I glanced up as I watched them pass by my vehicle and headed out of the parking lot. I opened my tracker app I had on the woman and followed far enough behind that I could not get made.

 

After forty five minutes of following they stopped and got out of the vehicle. It looked like an abandoned area of New York. Which meant that they were tracking a HDYRA cell. I felt every fiber of my being go on high alert as I watched them discuss what their plans were. I watched the woman look uneasily around before turning to the dark haired woman who seemed to be in charge. I surveyed the area it seemed like a trap. This area was far too deserted to not be a trap. I watched as the two women began to argue the dark haired woman shook her head and motioned for the others to follow. I watched as the woman surveyed the area and stopped as her eyes landed on me before turning back to follow the other group.

So she did know I was here. Why had she not alerted her companions? Was she protecting me? Or was she betting on the fact that I needed her so she was protecting herself?

I watched as they split up into different groups and followed the woman I had been studying at a safe enough distance not to get made but close enough to be able to jump in if need be. She seemed really on edge as she kept her weapon drawn. I narrowed my eyes as three of the men that were with her seemed to be ignoring her.

 

“This does not feel right.” She said in a harsh whisper. A few of the men nodded and looked uneasily around. I made sure to move deeper into the shadows as not to be discovered.

 

“I thought you spies were supposed to be unafraid?” One of the men snickered followed by the two accompanying them joining in on the laughter.

A few of the other men hissed at them to keep it down but it did not seem to work as the men ignored them as well.

 

She stopped walking and turned around to scowl at them. I watched as she showed a different side than what I had seen in my time of studying her. “Knock it off we don’t want them to know we are here anymore than they probably already know.” She hisses out before turning back around uneasily and continuing down the alleyway and towards one of the buildings.

 

I watched from the shadows as the three men ignored her thoughts and continued to joke and be loud. I felt my temper tick up they were going to get them all killed by thinking this was a simple operation that they were used to.

 

I watched as she turned stopped suddenly causing one of the comedians to run into her. “Abort Hill.” She says into what I assume is an ear piece to one of the members in the other group.

A few of the other men began to fall back agreeing with what the woman said.

 

I glanced up and saw movement through one of the windows someone knew that they were here. I grabbed one of my guns from its holster and waited in case I was needed.

 

“Stop being such a babies.” The more muscled one of the group of three idiots says pushing past her and entering the building without properly clearing it.

The woman exchanged an irritated glance with the remaining four men before following cautiously behind the three idiots into the building by default making sure to cover for the stupidity of the others in the group. I felt my temper go up more at watching the scene. Why on earth was she stupid enough to follow them if she knew something was off?

Within moments I heard the sound of rapid gun fire. I moved from my spot in the shadows to the door htat they went in. I made sure my strides were with a purpose. I watched as the three idiots cursed and shouted at each other while the others seemed to be more relaxed and handling the situation with some sort of calm

I didn’t care what happened to the three men or any of the others I just needed to make sure the woman was going to make it. I narrowed my eyes in search of the woman I spotted her taking down two men at one time. She used the railing on the balcony and launched herself at one of the men. She quickly tangled her legs around his neck and used her thighs to take him down. I watched as she grabbed a knife from a sheath on her leg and throw it at the other man.

She was a lethal little thing. I thought to myself as one of the HYDRA operatives rushed to me. I silently took him out by dragging him down in a choke hold before searching once again for the woman. I turned to look ahead of me and saw the other group rush into the building.

 

“I told you this felt wrong Hill!” I heard her voice from my left and headed towards the sound. I watched as one of the bigger HYDRA operatives took her by surprise and threw her off the balcony of the building before moving on to one of her companions. I felt myself tense at the sight.

 

I growled out and made my way towards her as others in her group stormed in the building. I watched as two men made there way to me. I grabbed one with my metal arm and through him against the wall and the other I tossed a knife and it went straight through his chest. I made my way towards her through the chaos. She needed to live because I still had questions. I watched as she stood up and staggered a second before finding a balance and pulling a knife from out behind her. I watched as she moved up towards the stairs before stopping.

 

I quirked an eyebrow at watching her flip the blade in her hand and throw it with deadly accuracy at the man who tossed her over the balcony. I stood there as the man’s body fell a few feet away from me and noticed she hit him right in the heart. She moved quickly to retrieve the knife and moved towards one of the other operatives fighting one of her companions.

 

Out of the corner of my eye I see one of the men pull the needle out of a can of a gas can and toss it in her direction. It landed within a few feet of her. I watch as the smoke begins to fill the room and put my gun back in its holster. I hear begin to cough. The gas must be one of HYDRA’s new ones that made people passout. I moved faster than she did and picked her up. Her eyes went wide as she recognized me. The shock must have worn off as her wide eyes turned into narrow slit and she began to try to get out of my arms.

I shook my head. “You and I both know you’re going to pass out since you don’t have a mask.” I point out as I tighten my hold around her and strode out of the building as quick as possible.

“Let me go.” She growls out and digs her finger nails into my upper arms as I make my way out of the building.

“Not a chance dorogaya.” 2 I say to her as I maneuver us out of the building.

I feel her hold on my arms slacken as I make my way away from the building. “Why are you doing this?” She questioned as her voice began to get weaker.

I watched as her head lolled back while I shifted her in my arms. I moved her to the van before gently setting her down and turning to see some of her companions leaving the building. “I need answers.” I said simply as I turned and headed back to the shadows. I would be coming for her soon.

 


	9. The Path Between: Clash

I woke up groaning my head was pounding and the movement of the car was making me nauseous. I looked around and noticed that everyone else was fully awake and appeared to be alert, except for the three dumbasses that were still sleeping behind me. Whatever that stuff HYDRA made was potent as hell. I felt my eyes flutter shut as the drug took over once again.

I slowly opened my eyes and saw that I was in a tiny room with a small bed. I moved to sit up and saw Hill in the lounging in the seat across from me.

“Good you’re awake.” She says looking at me.

I bit my tongue as to not ask why it was good. “How long was I out for?” I asked moving to sit up the rest of the way and praying that the world would stop spinning.

“A good two hours, you woke up a few times so they don’t think there will be any lasting damage.” She says as stands up.

“Why am I not at a hospital?” I questioned.

Maria parks the van and turns towards me. “No need we have an onsite doctor who ran all of the test. Reports show that it was just sleeping gas, a potent dose nothing lethal. My team got out safely a few members from your team also got hit with it but you got the worst of it seeing as you were the closest.” I watched as a man dressed in uniform knocked on the door opened relayed something to her and then leave just as quickly.

I glance around the room as I took in the blurred events from the last few hours. I knew that the operation felt off and she refused to listen to me. I thought back to the last thing I could remember. Was it an illusion?

_I felt strong arms pick me. “You and I both know you’re going to pass out since you don’t have a mask.” He points out as he tighten his hold around me and strode out of the building as quick as possible._

_“Let me go.” I growled out and dig my finger nails into his upper arms as he made his way out of the building._

_“Not a chance dorogaya.” 2 He says to me as he maneuvesr us out of the building._

_I feel my resistance begin to fade and my fierce grip on his arms losen as my eyes begin to flutter closed.. “Why are you doing this?” I questioned as my voice began to reflect how the rest of my body felt before my eyes fluttered shut briefly._

_“I need answers.” His gruff voice said as I lost consciousness._

 

Was seeing Bucky in my imagination? Or was it real? If it was real than how far was he willing to go to get his answers? Was he the sniper? Did HYDRA get a hold of him again?

"He saved you." Hill says locking eyes with me as if questioning me.

"Who?" I asked keeping my tone neutral and playing dumb. I felt my heart stop and my blood run cold at the confirmation that Bucky has been the one following me.

I watched as Hill crossed her arms over her chest and gave me a point look. “The Winter Soldier, care to explain why?”

I kept my features neutral, “No? Care to say why you did not abort?” I questioned as I moved to leave the van.

. “Y/N…” She warned in a tone similar to one she used to use on Fury when he did something she or the council did not agree with.

I shook my head. “Look I don’t know why he did it. Hell, I don’t even know how he found me. What I do know, is that I informed you something was off as soon as we arrived and you ignored me. So as far as I’m concerned Winter Soldier or not this one is on you.” I say sitting fully up and standing.

“I’ll need an incident report; the forms are on top of your clothes.” Hill she says before opening the door and pausing, “I’ve called you a car it will be here in twenty minutes.” She says before slipping out the door.

“Of course you did.” I shout as the door closed behind her. I sighed and walked towards my belongings. I winced remembering being thrown across the room. I was going to be in a lot of pain tomorrow. I picked up the file from the chair next to the spot Hill vacated and began to fill out the form. I glanced at the clock on the wall to see it took me fifteen minutes to write my version of events which meant my car would be here momentarily. I set the file down and peeled off my shirt that was stained with blood, I did not need my neighbors giving me weird looks. I pulled on my t-shirt from this morning and quickly changed my pants into my jeans. I threw my now soiled clothes in the bio hazard bags and grabbed the file along with my jacket, phone, keys and personal weapons. I exited the room and followed the signs to the lobby upon reaching the lobby I saw Hill on the phone with someone talking anxiously.  


I walked up to Hill and cleared my throat to alert her of my presence.

  
“I’ll call you back.” She says before hanging up. “Your car is here.” She says bluntly.

I nod and reach out to hand her the folder. “Everything is filled out.” I say as she grabs the file from my hands.

I nod at her before heading for the door and pausing. “Hill?” I shout as I turn around.

She raises an eyebrow at me.

“I really don’t know what he wants from me.” I say honestly owing her that much.

She nods before turning to head back in the direction of her office. I shake my head and head out to the car. I climb in and rattle off the directions for two blocks away from my place. I sigh and stare out the window as Bucky’s last words continue to ring in my head. It was time I got some answers for myself.

As we pulled up to the address that I gave him I nodded at the driver a good night before I began to walk in the direction of my place. As I walked I felt the eyes of the sniper. I needed to know who the sniper was. I nodded and smiled as I brushed passed people. There was only one way to find out who the sniper was.

I stopped walking and let the crowd move around me before yelling out frantically that I heard a gunshot. I waited a heartbeat and watch everyone around me begin to scramble. I broke into a run and headed to my apartment and used the chaos to my advantage, as everyone else was running in a mass panic. I made sure not to glance back as it would only slow me down. As I made it to my place I saw a girl wearing the similar shirt as me around the same height run into my building.

I ducked into the alley I knew he hid out in and pulled out my knife waiting for him. I moved deeper into the shadows as I watched him casually pause in the alley way. I tightened my grip on the knife and bit my lip waiting for him to enter. I watched as he backed into the alley eyes intent on my apartment. I took a deep breath and waited for him to move further into the shadows. I counted to ten and then withdrew my throwing knife, if the sniper was Bucky it would bounce off the metal and if it wasn’t, well it was going to hurt the snipers arm a hell of a lot. I tossed it in my hand before throwing it at the man’s right arm.

I held my breath as I heard the noise of metal hitting metal. I tightened my grip on my knife, good news was it was Bucky, bad news was that I was going to probably have to fight him. I watched as he went to turn and using the element of surprise I jumped him I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist in a death like grip. I heard him grunt in response to my added weight.


End file.
